CHENNAI / MUMBAI: Irish cement maker CRH, through its joint venture with Hyderabad based MyHome Industries Ltd, and French rival Vicat are in the final lap to acquire the cement unit of southern conglomerate Shriram Group, said people briefed on the matter.

CRH, which holds 50% stake in MyHome, has revised its offer price to buy controlling shares in Sree Jayajothi Cements, which is a part of Shriram Ventures, the holding entity of the group's non-financial services businesses, valued at about $250 million (or Rs 1500 crore).

CRH arm has been vying with Vicat to clinch the deal after private equity major Blackstone walked out of the transaction last month.

The two strategic bidders returned to the fray after talks with Blackstone collapsed, added people mentioned earlier in the report. CRH joint venture with MyHome has made a compelling fresh offer, which will be considered by the Shriram management in the next few days.

"The revised MyHome bid is more attractive, as of now, " sources said. Shriram Group chairman R Thyagarajan the deal with Blackstone was scrapped owing to mutual differences. "Blackstone viewed this transaction on lines of other PE deals the group has attracted for financial services. But cement manufacturing cannot be similar to financial services," he told TOI.

The $250 million enterprise valuation of Sree Jayajothi is almost equally split between debt and equity, said one source cited earlier in the report. Investment bank MAPE is advising Shriram on the transaction.

The $ 9 billion Shriram Group's foray into the capex-heavy cement sector was consequent to non-payment of EPC dues of nearly Rs 500 crore by Sree Jayajothi. Shriram converted dues into 70% equity in the company, which has 3.2 million tonne per annum plant in the Kurnool-Kadapa region of Andhra Pradesh.

The deal with Shriram would bolster MyHome's presence in South India, more specifically Andhra Pradesh where prices are showing first signs of recovery. In Hyderabad a 50 KG bag is now sold at nearly Rs 295 a bag, a smart recovery from the lows of Rs 195 a back few months ago.

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